Mexico’s leading broadcaster, Televisa, and cell-phone provider Iusacell have accepted conditions set by the country’s competition watchdog to consummate their $1.6 billion tie-up, a spokeswoman for the competition commission confirmed on Wednesday.

The transaction, in which Latin America’s largest telenovela producer is buying 50% of Iusacell, has been viewed as the biggest blow yet against Mexico’s leading cellphone operator Telcel, a unit of Carlos Slim's America Movil, to dominate the market. Slim is the world's richest man, with a recent net worth of $69 billion.

It has also given two of Mexico’s wealthiest men, Emilio Azcarraga and Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who own large stakes in Televisa and Iusacell, respectively, satisfaction in their long-running battle to challenge America Movil units Telcel and fixed-line telecoms operator Telmex’s dominance of Mexico’s telecommunications market.

The Televisa-Iusacell merger comes as Spain’s struggling telecoms giant Telefonica struck a strategic alliance with Iusacell to share and invest in new infrastructure that will enable the two parties to reach 90% of Mexico’s population. Earlier this year, Iusacell only had a 4% market share in Mexico.

Telefonica is set to invest up to $1 billion in Mexico this year while Iusacell will earmark some $600 million, as both firms work to expand their infrastructure and raise investment to acquire new technologies and subscribers.

Analysts said the deal has come as an oxygen tank for Telefonica’s Mexican unit, Movistar online, which has been struggling under lower interconnection rates and the problems affecting its parent company in recession-hit Spain.